Nick Kyrgios was booed by his home crowd and then took a sarcastic swipe at John McEnroe after crashing out of the Australian Open to Italy's Andreas Seppi.
Kyrgios had been considered an outside contender for the title in Melbourne but the combustible 21-year-old threw away a two-set lead, and squandered a match point, before losing 1-6 6-7 (1/7) 6-4 6-2 10-8 in the second round.
The 14th seed once again faced accusations he was not trying on court as he casually floated shots out and lacked intensity while Seppi was fighting back.
Australian fans in Hisense Arena expressed their disapproval while McEnroe, who has been a heavy critic of Kyrgios' behaviour in the past, described the performance as a "black eye for the sport".
"It's okay to show your emotions and I'd like to see that in a one-on-one game when you're out there by yourself," McEnroe said, while commentating for ESPN.
"But when he goes through those periods when he's not competing, it's just a black eye for the sport. And it's a black eye for him."
Kyrgios argued his effort had been restricted by a knee injury sustained while playing basketball during pre-season and gave short shrift to McEnroe's assessment.
"My body was sore. I was hurting," Kyrgios said. "I mean, John McEnroe, was it John McEnroe? Good on him. Great career. Good on him."
When asked later about the severity of his injury, Kyrgios replied: "Johnny Mack will know, mate. Just talk to him. He knows everything."
On the Australian crowd's reaction, Kyrgios added: "Obviously it's not the greatest thing to hear.
"I didn't have the best preparation coming into the Australian Open - pretty banged up, my body.
"I don't even know what the score was in the end. Was it 10-8? 10-8 in the fifth, getting booed off, definitely not the best feeling."
Kyrgios has only just returned from the suspension handed to him in October for giving up during a match against Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters.
He was initially suspended for eight weeks but the ban was later reduced to three on condition that he consult a sports psychologist.
Asked about the sessions, Kyrgios said: "It's going well."
Kyrgios has been hampered by fitness issues for the best part of a year and he admits he needs to hire a coach to give him a more professional schedule.
"The coach is always a question mark for me. I think that's one area where I obviously need to start taking a bit more seriously," Kyrgios said.
"I don't think there's anyone in the top 100 without a coach except for me. That needs to change.
"I got to start taking it more seriously. Pre-season is an important part of the year. You build foundations for the rest of the year.
"It's on me. I did a couple things in the off-season that I'm probably not going to do next time.
"I don't know, maybe just not play as much basketball. Actually take my pre-season seriously. It was fun. I love to play. But hurt my knee."
Seppi, ranked 89th in the world, had been on the receiving end of a five-set defeat in his last meeting with Kyrgios here in 2015 but was not distracted by his opponent's antics.
"I just was focusing on my game," said Seppi, who will face Belgium's Steve Darcis in the third round.
"I remember the match from two years ago. It was pretty much the same so I knew what's going to happen, what's going to be in the court.
"Of course, it's always very, very tough to play in a crowd like this or stadium like this."
Source: PA
